Job Description
Role:
Data Engineering POD Lead Location:
Irvine, CA
Domain:
BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance)
Role Type:
Data Engineering Leadership / POD Management (Data Platform & Engineering Delivery Lead) Job Description Position Summary We are seeking an experienced Data Engineering POD Lead to lead and manage a high-performing Data Engineering POD responsible for delivering scalable, reliable, and enterprise-grade data solutions. The ideal candidate will combine strong technical expertise in modern data platforms with leadership capabilities to drive end-to-end delivery, operational excellence, platform reliability, and business alignment. This role requires hands-on experience with Databricks, Apache Spark, Airflow/Astronomer, DevOps practices, and Data Engineering frameworks , along with the ability to manage multiple teams, stakeholders, and production support activities. Key Responsibilities Leadership & Delivery Management Lead and manage the Data Engineering POD, ensuring successful execution of data initiatives. Own end-to-end delivery of data engineering projects and platform enhancements. Align POD objectives with business priorities and enterprise strategic goals. Drive timely project execution while ensuring SLA compliance and service quality. Manage cross-team dependencies, risks, escalations, and issue resolution. Collaborate closely with business stakeholders, program managers, and technology leadership. Data Engineering & Platform Development Design, develop, and optimize scalable data pipelines and processing frameworks. Ensure data quality, integrity, governance, and performance across the data ecosystem. Implement best practices for data engineering, architecture, and operational excellence. Support enterprise data initiatives involving large-scale data processing and analytics. Databricks & Apache Spark Lead development and administration activities on the Databricks platform. Optimize Spark workloads through advanced performance tuning and resource management. Drive platform scalability, reliability, and cost optimization initiatives. Workflow Orchestration Design and manage enterprise-grade workflows using Airflow and Astronomer. Develop and maintain reliable DAGs to support data integration and processing requirements. Implement orchestration best practices to improve operational efficiency and reliability. DevOps & Automation Implement CI/CD pipelines to streamline application and platform deployments. Utilize Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles for environment provisioning and management. Drive automation initiatives to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual effort. Platform Operations & Reliability Ensure platform stability, high availability, and scalability. Define and implement monitoring, alerting, and observability frameworks. Establish incident management processes and operational readiness standards. Oversee production support activities and continuous service improvement initiatives. Ensure platform reliability through proactive monitoring and performance management. Required Qualifications Bachelor s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field. 10+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Big Data, or Data Platform environments. 3+ years of experience leading Data Engineering teams or PODs. Strong hands-on experience with:
Databricks Apache Spark Apache Airflow / Astronomer Data Pipeline Development Data Quality & Governance CI/CD Pipelines Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, etc.) Platform Monitoring & Production Support Experience managing enterprise-scale data platforms and distributed teams. Strong stakeholder management and communication skills. Preferred Qualifications Experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. Knowledge of Lakehouse Architecture and Modern Data Platforms. Familiarity with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices. Experience supporting BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) applications. Relevant Databricks, Cloud, or Data Engineering certifications preferred. Required Skills Databricks | Apache Spark | Airflow | Astronomer | Data Engineering | ETL/ELT | Data Pipelines | Data Quality | DevOps | CI/CD | Infrastructure as Code (IaC) | Platform Engineering | Monitoring & Alerting | Incident Management | Production Support | Cloud Platforms (AWS/Azure/Google Cloud Platform) | Team Leadership | Stakeholder Management
